being under rulers thus acting: besides these, here was laid the pretty certain foundation of a disputed succession; and even if this were never to take place (and we very narrowly escaped it), what Englishman must not have blushed at the thought of the prospect of being governed by a king, who had given to his wife and the mother of his child (who would naturally succeed him on the throne) a license like that expressed in this letter? But, about the character or feelings of the nation, he seems, in this case at any rate, to have cared nothing. His own mere animal pleasures appear to have been his only care. Yet, he was now thirty-four years of age, and within one year of that age, which the sober, cautious, and wise Americans have deemed, by their laws, an age sufficient for the man who is to be the CHIEF MAGISTRATE of their great Republic.

63. For the parties to live under the same roof, after this scandalous insult on the wife, was impossible. The princess soon afterwards went to reside in a house at BLACKHEATH, in the parish of Greenwich, and on the side of the very beautiful Park there, which is at the distance of about five miles from St. James's Palace in Westminster. At this place, which has become memorable from the subsequent transactions connected with it, she resided in a sort of "humble retirement," as she afterwards described it, "banished, as it were, from her husband, and

"almost estranged from the whole of the royal "family, having no means of having recourse, "either for society or advice." Besides which, she could write and speak English but very imperfectly; and as, from the very first, from the day of her arrival in this country, the QUEEN and the PRINCESSES showed her little or no countenance; the nobility, notwithstanding the character and conduct that that word ought to imply, studiously shunned her the moment she was cast off by her husband. The people, always just when not deceived, felt for her as they ought, and upon all occasions that offered expressed their indignation at the treatment she had received. Cruel husband was not and never will be a title to respect in England. In no country is it, indeed, respected; but in England it is detested and abhorred. It was soon discovered that this unprotected foreign lady was not visited by the QUEEN; that she came into her presence only on state occasions; and that, in short, she had, of the whole family, no friend but the old king, who frequently went alone to visit her.

64. This conduct in the female part of the royal family greatly offended the nation, and justly offended it. What! the people exclaimed, do they see their daughter and sister-in-law, and she their niece and cousin too, driven froin her husband's roof with a baby three months old in her arms, of which baby they are the grandmother and the

aunts; do they see this, and feel no compassion for the sufferer, though a stranger in the land, and though they know that she has thus been punished and degraded for no fault, and in violation of the most solemn vows; do they see this, and by keeping aloof from, not only give her no support or consolation, but tacitly tell the world that there is some just cause for her banishment! This conduct gave great offence to the English nation, who, with the exception of the aristocracy, did itself everlasting honour by its conduct towards the persecuted lady; showed a love of "fair play," of that proneness to take part with the weak against the strong, which has ever been amongst its best characteristics. And the royal family have not failed to experience the natural effects of this feeling in the nation, whose regard for that family has never been what it was before the period now under consideration.

65. But, alas! the sufferings of the unfortunate princess were not to end here; here they but made a mere beginning; her banishment was the smallest part of what she was destined to endure. If, indeed, she had been permitted to enjoy that "tranquil and comfortable society," which the prince, in giving her her discharge, said was "within their power," she might, though injured and insulted, have led a life free from anxiety, particularly as she might with justice have discarded from her mind all regard for, and

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care about, him. But, to suffer her to lead this sort of life appears to have been very far from his thoughts; for, as it was afterwards amply proved, she was no sooner in her state of banishment, than means were set to work to obtain against her such evidence as would, if established, justify the husband in demanding a divorce.

66. No steps were, however, openly taken, until the year 1806; though the pretended grounds of those steps had, some of them, existed five years before. These steps were: 1. A COMMUNICATION to the King, by the Prince of Wales, of certain information that he had received relative to the conduct of his wife; 2. A WARRANT of the king, authorising and commanding the lord chancellor, the secretary of state for the home department, the first lord of the treasury, and the lord chief justice of the court of King's Bench, to inquire into the truth of the allegations, and to report the result to the king. When we have these documents recorded, we shall have before us the true source of more cabal, intrigue, and mischief, than ought to exist in any nation in ten eenturies. The steps were the natural offspring of the cruel and insulting letter from the prince to his wife, on the 30th of April, 1796. As we shall by-and-by see, the plot was hatching during the whole of the ten years; and the reasons why it was attempted to be put in exe

cution now, and not before, will be stated byand-by, and will be found to be a matter of great importance, connected as those reasons were with political measures deeply affecting the interests of the country.

GEORGE R.

THE WARRANT.

WHEREAS Our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor Thomas Lord Erskine, Our Chancellor, has this day laid before Us an Abstract of certain written Declarations touch.ing the Conduct of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales: We do hereby authorize, empower, and direct, the said Thomas Lord Erskine, Our Chancellor; Our right trusty and right well-beloved Cousin and Councillor George John Earl Spencer, one of Our Principal Secretaries of State; Our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor William Wyndham Lord Grenville, First Commissioner of Our Treasury; and Our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor Edward Lord Ellenborough, Our Chief Justice, to hold Pleas before Ourself, to inquire into the truth of the same, and to examine upon oath such persons as they shall see fit, touching and concerning the same, and to report to Us the result of such Examinations.-Given at Our Castle of Windsor, on the twenty-ninth day of May, in the forty-sixth year of Our Reign.

G. R.